


Transformers Prime: Second Wave

by ShadeyBird1701



Category: Transformers: Prime
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-10-06
Updated: 2020-12-21
Packaged: 2021-03-08 01:00:59
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 2
Words: 3,192
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26857102
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ShadeyBird1701/pseuds/ShadeyBird1701
Summary: The War for Cybertron is over, and we lost. Call it bad leadership, call it arrogance and ego, call it whatever you like. But we lost all the same. Now with our homeworld under Autobot control, and with the Predacons now back in the universe after a few million years, what do we do? Are we, the last Decipticons, welcome on our world again? Will we simply be war criminals, tossed into prison or just scrapped outright?Unacceptable.Then again, if all the Autobots and that beast are back on Cybertron, then what’s on Earth that could stop us?Make no mistake: this isn’t a war for conquest. It’s a fight for survival. We’re not going back in chains.
Comments: 1
Kudos: 10





	1. The Last Message

It had been eons since his wings last cut through cool air, back when the primitive Earthlings were still trying to figure out how to sail around their little blue marble. The feeling of slashing through clouds and leaving contrails in his wake was something he’d actually missed without realizing it. Coming to Earth had yielded at least that one welcome surprise to alleviate his hesitation for answering the call of his old teacher.  _ My research could’ve continued on Varga Seven with what little Energon I had left...but Shockwave was never one for latency. So what did he leave in this desert? _

He’d followed the summon order from the Decepticon genius to what the Earthlings called ‘Death Valley’. The heat beating down on his wings was impressive for the world he flew over, which was perfect for hiding the Cybertronian beacon from prying human eyes. But such a small device was also proving difficult to locate.

“Do you see anything?” Thundercracker called down to the ground to a fellow wayward Decepticon. Tearing a path across the aptly named wasteland, the ferocious roar of a human sprint car raced over searing sands below. “Nothing yet...you’d think someone so smart would make it easier to find!”

“Shockwave kept his lab locations memorized, Piston. Didn’t want those Autobot slagheaps to find them and steal any secrets.”

The racecar grumbled on the comlink, “Sure hope whatever he called you for is worth it! I could be sniping Autobots across space right now…”

Thundercracker banked hard right to start scanning a new patch of barren dirt, “I’m sure it is, he wouldn’t have called if… Got it! Two klicks west, on my nose!”

“Finally!” Piston called back, kicking on his rocket booster to try outracing the Seeker in the sky. But try as he might, Thundercrakcer easily soared ahead descending to mere millimeters above the sand in his Su-35 form before pulling into a hard ascent and transforming. Swapping afterburners for legs, the Deception researcher landed with a stone-crunching ‘thud’ where his optics had picked up the beacon. 

“It’s here, transmitting authorization code now” Thundercracker announced as Piston also transformed and produced his beam rifle. The sniper swept the area to make sure no one followed while the scientist opened the concealed doorway.

“Don’t think you need that, Piston. I didn’t pick up any Autobot signals on our approach.” Thundercracker commented, leading the way into the once-hidden bunker.

“Yeah, but no Decepticon ones either. Didn’t Shockwave come here on Megatron’s orders?” Piston rebuked as the hidden acces way began to close behind them.

“Probably, it would take that much to get that recluse off of Cybertron and out of his lab.” the jet acknowledged as the pair made their way into a long, descending cavern. The rock had clearly been tunneled out for something far larger than the two Decepticons, but they saw nothing as they made their way deeper underground.

“Speaking of, why did Shockwave call you here?” Piston asked.

Thundercracker shrugged, “I’m not sure, his message mentioned a breakthrough with synthetic Energon and needing my files on artificial replication. So it sounds to me like we’re one step closer to winning this war.”

Piston grinned, “Good! I’ll be glad to send all those Autobots to the Pit!”

“Is that why you came along? Run out of targets to shoot in space?” Thundercracker pondered.

“Kinda, they’re getting harder and harder to find out there. Besides, I heard word that Optimus Prime himself was on this dirtballl! Just imagine the fame if I planted a slug in that trash-heap’s cranium.”

Finally, the two Decepticons made it to a central chamber, and were immediately silenced by the welcoming glow of ready-made Energon cubes stacked from floor to ceiling.

“By the Allspark, look at all this!” Piston hollered, practically sprinting over to the stacks of Cybertronian lifeblood. Thundercracker was equally stunned by such a treasure horde, as it was more than he’d ever seen in one spot since before the Great War with the Autobots began. 

But that in itself raised an excellent question, “Just how did Shockwave get a hold of all this?” Thundercracker wondered aloud, which Piston couldn’t hear over his own adulation. Fortunately for the Seeker, there was also a large computer bank on the far wall.

Thundercracker’s concern over the seemingly abandoned vault only grew once he unlocked the computer’s saved logs. From experience, the scientist knew his teacher kept backups of all his research, especially during the War. But the first file that drew Thundercracker’s attention was a massive compilation of data from Soundwave. 

“Why would the chief spy and snitch of the whole Decepticon force leave a message with Shockwave?” Thundercracker asked as the log began to download. In an instant, the Seeker relived years of conflict and struggle through Soundwave’s audio and video recordings until he reached the end. The finale of the great Decepticon fight for equality and revolution brought Thundercracker to his knees as he watched the great Megatron die. Impaled through the chest with the legendary Star Saber by that worthless bug of a scout, Bumblebee.

“By the Pit...it’s over…” the Seeker declared, aghast at the turn of fate. This drew Piston’s attention and the sniper came over to see what the trouble was. Greeted by the same small clip of Megatron’s lifeless husk falling from orbit repeating over and over, Piston’s fists began to clench tight enough to spark. “That’s it? We fought and bled and died for how many millions of cycles, only to lose?!”

Thundercracker felt the pain in his comrade’s words as they were thoughts he was having trouble processing himself. “They actually did it, the Prime’s team beat Megatron.”

Piston slammed his fist into the closest stone, breaking it into pieces. “Damn you, Autobots!” Turning to the Seeker, the sniper yelled, “So what do we do?! Go back to Cybertron and get tossed in a junkyard? Slag that! They can come clean up my cold, dead, rims!”

“No,” Thundercracker began, pointing toward the screen, “Look! The Autobots have won, they have Cybertron again!”

“Yeah, I know…” Piston retorted, clearly missing the point.

“Which means they aren’t here!” the Seeker clarified. “Even if these humans helped fight Megatron, the Autobots didn’t leave anyone behind to protect them!”

The flyer could see the wheels trying to turn in the sniper’s cranium, so Thundercracker pointed to the Energon cubes. “Look at all this! Just you and I could survive on this for the next million cycles, far longer than any of these humans! But what if we weren’t alone?”

“But Megatron…” Piston began.

Thundercracker cut him off. “Megatron’s gone! Soundwave’s gone! Starscream’s probably gone, and slag him anyway. Dreadwing’s gone! Shockwave’s probably gone! The Decepticon movement is done! So what do we do?”

“Go down fighting?” the racecar asked, making the jet shake his head, “No. We survive. It’s the only logical solution we have left. We regroup here and combine our resources.”

“You mean hide like a bunch of Minicon cowards and wait for the Autobots to hunt us down? No thanks!” Piston protested, turning to head back up the ramp and out of the cavern. The pitched whine of a charging blaster stopped him in his tracks. “You gonna shoot me, flybot?”

Thundercracker let his Null Ray charge to full power before he spoke. The shot wouldn’t kill Piston, as the Null Ray wasn’t designed for that.  _ But it’ll put your gears down for a spell… _ “Only if I have to, which won’t be the case if you just listen.”

The racer didn’t turn back around, but he also didn’t move forward, “Alright, so we regroup and we live off all this Energon. So what? The Autobots will come for us eventually!”

“We worry about that problem after we figure out if anyone is left,” Thundercracker countered. “Right now, we recover, research, and keep this stockpile in Decepticon hands. If it really is just us left, then I’ll space-bridge you to Cybertron personally so you can shoot all the Autobots you want.”

After a moment of contemplation, Piston turned to face the Seeker, shouldering his rifle back into its compartment. “So where do we start? If there’s no other Decepticons here…”

“Then we look to space, or even back on Cybertron,” Thundercracker began, pulling up a communications channel and encryption key. “There’s more than one deep space radio telescope on this mud-ball I can hide a Decepticon message in….and, done! If there’s anyone left out there, they should hear us.”

Piston crossed his arms and watch the display, already impatient at the lack of reply, “So what now?”

“Now we figure out what’s going on with these humans. What did they see, what did they learn from the Autobots, and how can we use them to our advantage.”


	2. Part 2: New Mission Directive

…

…

…

_ Alert: Massive energon spike detected at Gate of Primus _

_ Activate secondary protocol: Conduct surveillance of Autobot activity. Alert Soundwave of all Autobot movement and effort in re-conquering Cybertron _

These lines of code were the first activity RatBat had seen in untold millennia, so the Decepticon was at least pleased to be awakened again. The small flyer unfolded its blood-red wings and detached its talons from the rafters it had tucked itself in so long ago. Feeling the rush of air against its large audio sensors as it dropped was a pleasing rush as RatBat slowed to a hover, before darting out of a large gash carved in the side of its hiding place. 

The mini Energon scout pulled into a tight climb, using its small but powerful thrusters to push itself to the peak of the wrecked building that had been its nest. The night sky greeted its optics with a veil of darkness alive in the streaks of a thousand newborn sparks coming alive on a dead world. RatBat did not question why its master, the ever-vigilant spy Soundwave, had ordered it to remain behind, as it understood his master's intention to be on guard for this moment. However, its simple programming also recognized the damage done by being stuck in standby mode for so long. RatBat needed fresh fuel and it needed it now.

And unlike most other Mini-Cons, RatBat was designed with that mission first and foremost. So at a great distance, its finely-tuned olfactory sensors picked up on the electrically-sweet scent of processed and cubed Energon. As well as a small Autobot gathering coming into a new existence from the nothingness of moments previous. Logging this observation for later, the fuel scout plotted and took to a course of stealth. Using small bursts of thrust to send it from wrecked building to wrecked building, it only used its sensors occasionally to verify its path, lest RatBat get lost in the infinite horizon of destruction. 

After hours of evasion and passive observation, RatBat was almost on top of the Energon signature when its ears picked up on a second Deception signature. Like itself, the signal was short-range and low power, but it had the mark of Soundwave buried in its coding. 

RatBat spun itself around and ascended quickly to pinpoint its source, which had concealed itself in the top level of what once was an armory tower. Finding a spot to perch, RatBat chittered a quick coded burst to respond to the signal, letting its source know that it was among friends. With a strong kick and the twist of its slender body, another Mini-Con uncovered itself, quickly leaping from the debris and up a higher perch of a broken rafter.

RatBat had not seen Ravage since the latter had been dispatched by their master, and it was clear that the quadruped stalker was surprised that it had been awoken in such a way. RatBat queried its fellow Mini-Con as to why it had been left behind, and Ravage responded with the same directive that had left the flyer in stasis. 

Finally curious beyond its assigned mission, RatBat gambled and sent a signal to its master. Ravage followed suit on its own channel, yet there was no immediate reply. While this was an issue of direction for the two Decepticons, the need for life-saving Energon was more pressing in the moment. As such, RatBat passed to Ravage where it was heading, and the ground-based hunter leapt from its perch to sprint down the side of the tower. RatBat followed from the air, maintaining its quieter approach, as Ravage had been better built for battle. Still, the sprinting across steel surface-work was rendered mostly silent thanks to Ravage’s own sneaking instincts. 

Unlike most of the surrounding city, the location of the located Energon was actually intact. A curious fact to RatBat and an inconvenience for Ravage, as now the stalker didn’t have debris to hide behind. Still, the rebuilt building also had rebuilt ventilation ducts and crawlways, which Ravage had been designed to thrive in. 

Carefully, RatBat took a perch on the highest ledge it could find, scanning as much of the structure as it could and feeding its MiniCon partner the easiest directions it could compute. From there, the flying Energon hunter simply waited, keeping a persistent eye on Ravage as it worked though tight ducts, under flooring and across piping before coming to a sealed room where the Energon pile was secured. 

Naturally, a room containing such precious fuel was well-secured, locked behind a powered door. Another curiosity for the Energon hunter, as there should have been nothing left to power even the simple door mechanism on their dead world. 

Still, it only took a few microcycles for RatBat's decryption processor to figure out the simple Autobot code and fool it, opening the vault to Ravage. In short order, the stalker had located the precious fuel and set to the task of cutting out a small section of wall with superheated claws. 

As soon as the cut-out piece of wall gave way, Ravage pulled it in and quietly set it aside, letting RatBat glide in equally undetected. Together, the MiniCons sank their teeth into precious Energon cubes, long-dormant systems suddenly sparking back online after eons of entropy. 

With its sensors now at full power, RatBat fluttered back outside to the top of the repaired tower, with Ravage slowly clawing its way back up the outside of the structure. Based on where they knew they were, the Well of All-Sparks was just over the horizon, the source of the flood that was showering their homeworld with new life.

And at the lip of that rebirth was the haggard wreck of the Deception's flagship, the  _ Nemesis _ . Its presence, paired with the lack of response from their master, began to paint a form picture for the MiniCons to process. 

But with the warship in sight, RatBat chittered out another hail, which was answered this time. Hidden within the trillions of code layers that enabled the Nemesis to operate, Soundwave had hidden away backup instructions for this eventuality, which the smaller Decepticons now received. 

_ Primary operation: failure. Status of Soundwave: displaced into alternate dimension due to GroundBridge sabotage. _ _   
_ _ Initiate Operation: Reprisal. _

With the command, long-dormant logic circuits fired online for each MiniCon. Their new goal was simple; assassination. For those who had cut down their master deserved nothing less than death.    
In aid to this assignment, the warship itself replayed the final moments of Soundwave’s existence, extrapolating and identifying all parties responsible for the feat. Neither Ravage nor RatBat had ever seen a Terran fleshling before, so having three human faces burned into their primary directive was a shock in itself. 

_ Target: Jack Darby _ _   
_ _ Target: Miko Nakadai _ _   
_ _ Target: Rafel  _ _ Jorge Gonzales Esquivel _

Three primates now marked for eradication. 

Along with their faces, the _Nemsis_ ’ data archive divulged all of Soundwave’s surveillance on the three, to include coordinates on their homeworld where they were known to reside, known affiliations, and most important of all, partial access to the wreck’s still-functional SpaceBridge control panel. Such capability was only for use from the warship to the Terran homeworld of Earth, but that was of no matter to either MiniCon. 

Their primary concern now were the several Autobots around the wreck itself, a pair of which ambled around the warship’s bridge where their first goal was located. In order to get to Earth, they would both need to access the now-secured SpaceBridge targeting computer. Another scan of the most direct path revealed to the Decepticons that the ground path was not an option. Too many Autobot protoforms to evade or cut down, including a new creation of Autobot flyers. 

Instead, Ravage focused their attention on the subterranean approach, pointing out where one of the larger waste runoff pipelines was still intact all the way up to the crashed hulk of the warship’s belly. Although RatBat wasn’t built or fond of waddling through such a small enclosure, it acknowledged that their directive was most important, so the flying MiniCon clamped down onto Ravage’s backside and flattened itself as much as possible for the slow creep.

Carefully, silently, the MiniCon pair stalked their way to the mangled outer hull of the  _ Nemesis _ , which allowed them no shortage of entry points into the lower decks of the vessel. Immediately, they could hear the labor and toil of multiple Vehicon drones working to restore the vessel. Though Ravage favored eviscerating these traitors to Megatron’s message, RatBat was more pragmatic, pointing out the exposed hull breaches they could easily navigate up to the SpaceBridge control. 

Once they reached the bridge hatchway, however, the command decision fell to the ground-walking hunter, as the two Autobots in the room were directly between them and the console they required. Quickly calculating the best ambush vector, Ravage unfolded the powerful boost rockets along its back hips, nodding for RatBat to ascend to the top of the hatch and prepare its scramjet booster. Their moves had to be synchronous, their attacks precise.   
  
As soon as the hatch unlatched to open, both MiniCons engaged their top speeds, racing through the barely wide enough opening. Unfortunately for the two Autobots, they had been so engrossed in studying the available data displays that they didn’t process the incoming Deceptions until it was too late. With an aided leap, Ravage caught its target at the back of the cranium and bit down as hard as it could. The Autobot could only emit a brief shriek before its cranium and all the vital circuits therein were crushed by savage teeth.

Though a flyer, RatBat was a split-second behind Ravage, but its attack was just as effective. Shimmering Energon blades sparked to life along the leading edge of its wings, and with a mach-speed corkscrew, the MiniCon tunneled through the surprised Autobot, who collapsed to the ground trying to gather its now exposed inner wiring.

Now RatBat had the initiative, quickly hacking and overriding its way though the enemy security code to charge the SpaceBridge. As calculated, this sudden jolt of energy raised all kinds of alarms through the wrecked warship, but the MiniCons only needed seconds.

And by the time the first responding Autobots arrived with guns armed, the SpaceBridge had been closed once more, arrival coordinates erased by RatBat’s override code.


End file.
